Dutch ovens have been in use for many years, being especially suited for outdoor cooking and for preparing meals at campsites. Normally these ovens are quite heavy, often made of cast iron. The ovens include a lid upon which coals may be placed to assist in heating the oven, while the oven kettle or container itself rests upon a bed of coals, over a fire, heated stones, or other heat source. Because of their heavy weight, dutch ovens, especially when containing ingredients, are difficult to lift for removal from the heat source, even though a bail handle is provided for lifting.
To inspect the cooking ingredients, or remove them for serving, the lid must be lifted from the vessel. An eye or equivalent structure is affixed to the center of the upper surface of the lid to facilitate its lifting. However, the lifting of the lid is difficult because the person doing the lifting must lean awkwardly over the heat source and carefully handle the heavy, hot lid so as to avoid an accidental burn.
A tool has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,599 to Gale et al for the lifting of either the vessel by engagement with the bail handle, or lifting of just the lid by engagement with the lifting eye. Although useful, the Gale tool is of large size, requiring considerable storage space, and further makes no provision for setting down the removed lid in a manner to avoid contamination of the lower surface of the lid and to re-lift the lid for returning it to the vessel.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a device for lifting a dutch oven or its lid.
It is another object of this invention to provide a device as in the foregoing object capable of disposing the removed lid in a manner to avoid contamination of the lower surface and facilitate its return to the vessel.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device of the aforesaid nature which is collapsible to a small size for storage.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device of the aforesaid nature of rugged, durable construction amenable to low cost manufacture.
These objects and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.